


Debt of Life

by queensands



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, F/M, Falling In Love, Old Friends, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:55:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22222927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queensands/pseuds/queensands
Summary: Geralt is rescued by a mysterious woman with a past. Though his savior, she is keeping secrets that could endanger them both.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Original Female Character(s), Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 53





	Debt of Life

“Witcher...” a disembodied voice whispered across his consciousness. It was featherlight as a caress, simply sifting through his mind as if taking a stroll through the meadows on a sunny day. So he had to wonder... _ Was it even real? _

Maybe he was finally dead. How disappointing? After a lifetime of escaping death on a regular basis and fighting mighty monsters all over the continent, his death came from something so insignificant he could barely even remember it now. How ironic.

Then again, maybe he had it coming. How long has it really been anyway? Maybe he was finally slowing down and death had caught up to him once and for all. The ultimate retirement. He wondered if he was ready to actually lay it all to rest. He’s been fighting for as long as he could remember. It was all he had known in his life. His aching body could use a good rest, couldn’t it?  _ Wait.  _ If he could feel pain, could he actually be dead?

“Geralt...”

There it was again. The voice that distracted him from his own morbid thoughts. It was female. And somehow, though he couldn’t explain why, it felt strangely familiar.

He tried to open his eyes and found out that he actually could. His gaze slowly focused through a haze to find piercing blue eyes staring back at him. Unnaturally blue, and set on a face that was completely unfamiliar.

_ Fuck. She was beautiful… _ he thought in delirium. Maybe it  _ is _ a dream. People did see strange things in their deathbeds, did they not?

“You are awake,” she said to him, her voice melodic. In his fever ridden mind, it seemed ethereal.

He slowly looked around to see that they were in the middle of a clearing within the woods, camped. Roach was close by, grazing on something. It all looked far too normal to be a dreamy figment of his imagination.

He tried to rise but a small hand rested on his bare chest halting him. He looked down to find that he was naked from the waist up. Though the fur blanket covered his modesty, he could feel he was just as naked further down as well. 

_ Where the fuck were his clothes?  _ He couldn’t help the glare that overtook his face. It just came too naturally to him.

“I had to remove them to heal you properly,” she told him. Seeing his suspicious gaze she elaborated, “And no, I didn’t read your mind.”

“Who are you?” He asked, with an intimidating growl.

Except she didn’t seem fazed by it at all. “You don’t know?” She asked, her brow furrowing slightly. Instead, she seemed sort of disappointed by his apparent lack of recognition, though Geralt couldn’t fathom as to why.

He really looked at her and took his time about it.

Her hair was so red that it reminded him of liquid fire. He wondered, deliriously, if it would burn his hands if he dared to run them through the cascading waves. It framed a perfect heart shaped face, unblemished in anyway. Her eyes, in contrast to her hair, were pure ice. So blue it was almost unnatural and definitely unfamiliar. But the lips… Strangely, her lips reminded him of something long forgotten, just as her voice had.

It was undeniable. She was surely the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his unnaturally long godforsaken life. Had he met this woman before, he would have never been able to forget her.

“You are a sorceress,” he surmised, without a single doubt in his mind.

“How did you know?”

“Your beauty lies on the border of perfection,” he grunted. “What can you be but  _ that _ ?”

She laughed. It was graceful and yet at the same time, unrefined. Raw, like she hadn’t had a real laugh in a while.

“Careful,” she warned, still grinning. “My already overly inflated ego might become truly unmanageable with the way you’re complimenting me.”

He couldn’t help the smirk that twisted his lips. It nagged at him though, how familiar she was with him. The way she spoke to him was as if they were long lost friends and not mere strangers who chanced upon each other.

“Who are you?” He repeated the question.

She avoided it completely and asked him one instead. “Do you remember what happened?”

All he gave her was a blank look. His memory was slightly vague. He blamed the fever that had probably set in. The last thing he remembered was…

“You were swarmed by a horde of the undead,” she continued. “One had gotten a bite in while you were distracted by something. The toxic was setting in and you were slowing down, unable to fight with them.”

“And you found me while you were strolling through the woods in the dead of night,” he said casually, even though they both knew it was the furthest from the truth.

“Quite.”

“Hmm...” he grunted. She was not telling him the whole story. Right now, he was in too much pain to delve into it anyway. His shoulder hurt like fucking hell. It seemed to be seeping into his bones.

He pressed on to the neatly wrapped bandage. “Fuck,” he swore underneath his breath. Even though he couldn’t see it, he knew it was deep. If not for her finding him at the opportune moment, he could have actually died. “You healed me.”

“Magic,” she said in way of explanation, smiling.

All mystery and confusion of who she was and how she had found him aside, he owed her his life. “Thank you. Is there anyway I could repay you?”

For a brief moment, her eyes roamed over him, head to toe, lingering on his bare chest, and resting on his lips until slowly meeting his gaze. Delicious things left unsaid but certainly implied.

He was used to such appraisals. Witchers were curiosities most women couldn’t resist but explore. Yet, she had an effect on him without even really touching him. Suddenly, his skin felt like it was on fire, and he didn’t know if it was from the fever or the heat in her eyes. 

Then just as quickly, the tension was diffused as she said cryptically, with a gentle smile, “Consider it a debt repaid.”

Her lips… they were both innocent and sensuous at the same time. Her smile tugged something within him, poking at his desire to somehow just keep her safe, while another part of him wanted something far more darker.

_ A debt repaid…  _ the words reverberated in his mind, and suddenly, he remembered exactly who she was.

“Avyanna...” he whispered, unable to reconcile the past with what was right before him.

“Geralt,” she smiled at him.

He took a good look at her. Gone were her scars from the fire that had burnt down her home taking her whole family with it. Gone was the mousy mop of short brown curls, that combined with her slight body, had made her resemble more of a young boy. 

When their paths had first crossed, she had barely been eighteen years old. But that was over twenty five years ago, and she had not aged a day since then it seemed.

Back then, they had called her a monster for the monstrosities she had had no control over in the first place. She had harnessed all that into something more. Something powerful. He sensed it even if it was seemingly well under a tight reign. Now, she looked like someone who could devour the world if she willed it.

“You changed everything.”

“Not everything,” she smiled, once more letting his attention focus on her lips. 

Even back then, despite how young she had been, he had been drawn to those lips, though he had not dared to act upon it. Not then. His honor had not let him inflict his own desires upon her when he had just saved her from the darkness of someone else’s.

When he looked back up at her, he noticed how her eyes lingered upon his lips, and her tongue darted out swiftly to just wet hers. A simple action, and yet, it did something to him.

“No...” he grunted in agreement. “Not everything.”

That was the last thing he could mumble before his tired body overtook his mind, pushing him into a deep sleep.

When he awoke the next day, he felt like all his ailments had disappeared. He felt deeply rested and his mind was sharp. He was more than ready to delve into the parts of Avyanna’s story that still nagged at him.

Yet, all that greeted him in the morn was Roach. 

Avyanna was gone, without a trace. If not for the bandage on his shoulder, he would have thought he had dreamt her up in his state of deliriousness.

His heart felt heavy somehow, as if he had lost something he didn’t realize he had. Something he wasn’t yet ready to lose. Even in pain, he had felt peace in her presence, though he couldn’t understand why. And he wasn’t going to question it either. Peace was rare for him in his line of work. It always has been. Pain was eternal. It was just how it was. So he would take peace wherever he could find it, no questions asked.

Except maybe  _ some _ questions. Questions to which answers eluded him, just as she had.

Still, he shook his head and got up to find his clothes. It would have been far more preferable to get dressed in the morning under much,  _ much _ different circumstances.

He approached Roach to check in on him. “Hm…” he sighed. “She took off in the dead of night like a little thief. She is clearly hiding something, isn’t she? What do you think, Roach?”

Of course, as usual, he didn’t get an answer.

So he got on with his day. After all, there was coin to earn and more monsters to kill. Those undead bastards needed to be finished off before they could prey on any who are unlucky enough to head through that part of the woods.

Besides, he had a feeling. Somehow he knew...this wasn’t the last time he would see Avyanna. Their paths would cross once more. 

Sometimes, somethings were inescapable. No matter how hard they tried.


End file.
